Zacks Earning Trends. Revenue Weakness Dominates Q1 Earnings Season

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1 April 29, 2015 Zacks Earning Trends Sheraz Mian Revenue Weakness Dominates Q1 Earnings Season With results from almost two-thirds of the S&P 500 index s total market capitalization already on the books, we have a good sense of how the Q1 earnings season has unfolded. The actual numbers will evolve over the coming days as more companies report results, but the broad pattern emerging from the results thus far will likely carry through to the end. This broad pattern pertains to broad-based top-line weakness. Not only are revenue growth rates very low, but an unusually large proportion of companies are missing consensus revenue estimates. We knew that growth rates would be challenged this earnings season following the unusually sharp cuts to estimates ahead of the reporting cycle, but the very low revenue beat ratios are nevertheless a standout element of this earnings season. It appears that the analyst community underestimated the impact of the strong dollar on Q1 results. This point becomes obvious in a comparison of the results thus far between the internationally exposed S&P 500 members and the more domestic oriented Russell 2000 members. More on that in the detailed report, but let s do the numbers first. Q1 Scorecard (as of April 29th, 2015) We now have Q1 results from 280 S&P 500 members that combined account for 66.0% of the index s total market capitalization. Total earnings for these 280 companies are up +9.1% on essentially flat revenues (down -0.1%), with 66.2% beating EPS estimates and only 41.3% coming ahead of top-line expectations. This is weak performance compared to what we have seen from the same group of 280 S&P 500 members in other recent periods. (Please note that we provide the scorecard for the Russell 2000 index on page 16 of the detailed report) The two side-by-side charts below give a historical context to the results thus far by comparing the Q1 earnings & revenue growth rates (left-hand side chart) and earnings & revenue beat ratios (right-hand side chart) with what these same companies achieved in the preceding quarter as well as the 4-quarter average.

2 Three things stand out as we look at the results thus far First, the revenue weakness is very notable. We knew that growth will be problematic in Q1, so the weak revenue growth rate of -0.1% compared to other recent periods isn t that surprising. But the very low proportion of companies beating revenue estimates is surprising and likely indicative that the growth backdrop has been even weaker than what was reflected in consensus estimates. Second, the earnings growth rate (+9.1%) compares favorably to what we saw from the same group of companies in 2014 Q4 and the 4-quarter average. But the favorable growth rate comparison is solely due to the Finance sector. Exclude Finance from the result and the growth comparison shifts in the other direction, as the right hand-side chart below shows. The Finance sector has been a big growth contributor this earnings season, with total earnings for the sector up +19.6% on +1.0% higher revenues, with 59.3% of the sector companies beating EPS estimates and 42.6% beating revenue expectations. 2

3 The roughly $3.6 billion year over year positive swing in Bank of America s (BAC) total earnings is a big contributor to the sector s strong growth numbers. But it will be unfair to credit Bank of America for all of Finance s growth thus far. Others like J.P. Morgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Citigroup (C) showed genuine earnings growth on the back of improved capital markets businesses even though the interest rate backdrop continues to be challenging. The regional banks have been unable to show the same growth momentum that we saw from the bulge-bracket firms. Total earnings for the biggest sector in the S&P 500, the Technology sector, are up +7.5% on +8.1% higher revenues, with only 47.2% of the sector companies beating EPS and revenue estimates. Please keep in mind that the sector s respectable-looking growth numbers are solely due to Apple s (AAPL) strong quarterly report. Exclude Apple from the Tech sector and the Q1 earnings growth rate for the sector drops to a decline of -2.4% (from +7.5%). For the S&P 500, earnings growth will drop to +7.6% if Apple is excluded from the results already out. Third, as has been the norm in recent quarters, management teams continue to guide lower for the current and following quarters. As a result, estimates for the current quarter, which had fallen quite a bit already in solidarity with the Q1 estimate cuts, have started coming down even more. The chart below shows how earnings growth estimates for Q2 have evolved since the beginning of the year. The dollar issue has added to the Energy sector s woes and some concerns about the U.S. economic picture in bringing down this year s estimates. Current consensus estimates show earnings growth for the S&P 500 to be in the negative for the first three quarters of the year, with the growth rate for the full-year now modestly in the negative. 3

4 The expectation is that the growth picture starts improving in the last quarter of the year, with the growth pace ramping up to double-digit rates in Report in Detail We are in the thick of the 2015 Q1 earnings season, with results from 280 S&P 500 companies already out. Total earnings for these 280 companies are up +9.1% from the same period last year, with 66.2% beating expectations. Total revenues for these companies are down -0.1%, with a below-average 41.3% beating revenue expectations. The table below provides a Scorecard for the 280 companies that have reported results, as of Wednesday April 29th, (please note, we have provided the Russell 2000 Scorecard towards the end of the report). Note: Here are few key points to keep in mind while reading this report. 4

5 a. All the earnings analysis in this report pertains to the S&P 500 index, a handy proxy for the entire business world. b. We divide the corporate world into 16 sectors compared to the official S&P 10 GICS. We have standalone sectors like Autos, Construction, Conglomerates, Aerospace, Transportation and Business Services that provide for a better understanding of trends in these key areas of the economy. c. All references to earnings mean total earnings and not mean or median EPS. d. We make adjustments to reported GAAP earnings to account for non-recurring or one-time items, but we do consider employee stock options (ESOs) as a legitimate business expense. Unlike Zacks, Wall Street and all other data vendors don t treat ESO s as a recurring business expense. In terms of growth rate, 5 sectors have double digit earnings growth, but none of them have corresponding revenue growth rates. These double-digit earnings growers include (Finance: up +19.6%), Utilities (up +11.2%), Transportation (up +39%), Autos (up +31.9%) and Construction (up +15%). On the revenues side, the best growth rate among the 16 Zacks sectors is from the Retail sector up +12.1% from the same period last year (the sector s earnings are up a decent enough +8.3%). Technology and Construction have the next best revenue growth rates at this stage in the reporting cycle, up +8.1% and 8.2%, respectively. We know that Tech sector s strong top-line numbers are primarily due to Apple and Construction is too small a sector to have much of a bearing on the aggregate picture. But the Retail sector s strong numbers are interesting and merit further review, particularly since Retail sector stocks have had the best price response to earnings announcement of all 16 sectors (please check the second last column in the Scorecard table on the page above). Retail s +12.1% top-line gain at this stage may not be that significant as it s mostly a function of easy comparisons at Walgreens and strong revenue growth at Amazon. Take these two companies out of the results thus far and the sector s revenue growth rate drops to +4.4% - still respectable, but no longer the best in the S&P 500. What may be more notable for the sector is that the ratio of Retail sector companies beating EPS estimates (88.9%) is the highest in the entire index and its revenue beat ratio (55.6%) is the third best of all 16 sectors in the index and above the index s aggregate (41.3%). The side-by-side comparison charts below show how the sector s results are tracking notably better relative to other recent periods. 5

6 We should keep in mind, however, that while the sample size of Retail sector reports at this stage of the reporting cycle is representative enough, it is the second lowest of all 16 sectors. As we know, many retailers have fiscal quarters ending in April and those companies are typically the last to come out with their results each quarter. The following two charts do the same comparison for the Technology sector, but focuses only on the growth rates and presents the comparison for the sector with and without Apple. The left hand side chart looks at the reported Tech sector results on an ex-apple basis while the right hand side chart shows the aggregate growth picture for all sector companies that have reported results. As you can see, there is not much growth in the sector outside of Apple. 6

7 Composite Expectations for Q1 Combining the actual results from the 280 S&P 500 members with estimates for the remaining 220 index members, total earnings in Q1 are expected to be up +1.0% from the same period last year, on -4.6% lower revenues and modestly higher margins. The table below provides a summary view of the expectations for 2015 Q1. The 2015 Q1 weakness is broad-based, with 5 of the 16 Zacks sectors expected to experience earnings decline from the year-earlier period. That said, Energy is the biggest drag on the aggregate earnings picture, with total earnings for the sector expected to be down -64.9% from the same period last year on -42.7% lower revenues. The growth picture improves a bit once the Energy drag is excluded from the aggregate numbers, with total earnings for the S&P 500 companies outside of the Energy sector expected to be up +9.9% on +1.6% higher revenues. 7

8 Of the major sectors with notably weak growth profiles include Industrial Products (total earnings down -5.3% year over year), Basic Materials (-2.2%), Consumer Disc (-1.3%), and Consumer Staples (-0.3%). The Finance sector is big growth contributor in Q1, with total earnings for the sector expected to be up +17.4% from the same period last year, which compares to effectively flat growth for the sector in 2014 Q4. Easy comparisons at Bank of America and stronger earnings from J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and others account for most of the sector s strong growth. For the Technology sector, total earnings are expected to be up +6.3% from the same period last year, with another strong quarter from Apple carrying the day for the sector. Excluding Apple, total earnings for the Tech sector would be actually down from the same period last year. The Context for Growth Expectations Let s take a look at how consensus earnings expectations for 2015 Q1 compare to what companies earned in the last few quarters and what they are expected to earn in the coming quarters. Table 2 below presents the year over year earnings growth rates - expectations for Q1 and the following two quarters. It also shows consensus earnings growth expectations for 2014 and Table 3 presents the same data for revenues. Table 2 Earnings Growth Context 8

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10 Table 3 Revenue Growth Context The next two tables present the same data in a different format instead of year-overyear growth rates, we have the dollar level of total earnings and revenues for each of these quarters. 10

11 Table 4 Total Quarterly earnings 11

12 Table 5 Total Quarterly Revenues It may be obvious, but it s still useful to explain what we mean by total earnings. This means the sum total of aggregate earnings for all the companies in the S&P 500. For historical periods through 2014 Q4, we have taken the total earnings (not EPS) for each company in the S&P 500 and added them up to arrive at the sector and index level totals (we do adjust reported GAAP earnings for non-recurring items, but consider employee stock options as a legitimate business expense). For the coming quarters, including Q1, we have taken the Zacks Consensus EPS for each company in the index, multiplied that by the corresponding share count (from the last reported quarter) to arrive at the total earnings for each company. And then we aggregated them to arrive at the totals for each sector and the index as a whole. The lack of accuracy in real-time share count notwithstanding, this gives us a fairly accurate view of the total earnings picture. In plain language, what Table 4 tells us is that companies in the S&P 500 are expected to earn $262.9 billion in 2015 Q1 vs. $286.6 billion in 2014 Q4 and $260.2 billion in 12

13 2014 Q1. The overall level of total earnings has been very high in recent quarters. In fact, the 2014 Q4 tally was a new all-time quarterly record, surpassing the records reached in each of the preceding two quarters. Will Q1 be the Low Point for Aggregate Earnings? As referred to earlier, not only is the growth rate for Q1 very low, but the quarter is also expected to bring in the lowest tally of aggregate earnings since the year-earlier period. This will end the run of record aggregate earnings in recent quarters, with each of the preceding three quarters bringing in all-time record earnings for the S&P 500 index. The chart below graphically shows what was presented in table 4 earlier The chart below shows the aggregate earnings totals for the S&P 500 on an ex-energy basis. As you can see, aggregate Q1 earnings outside of the Energy sector will also be the lowest since 2014 Q

14 The Margins Picture The table below shows net margin expectations for Q1 in the context of where they have been and where they are expected to go in the coming quarters. Table 6: Quarterly Net Margins 14

15 The table 7 below shows net margins on a trailing four-quarter basis. So, the 10.2% net margin for 2015 Q1 reflects estimates for Q1 and actuals for the preceding three quarters, and so on. 15

16 Margins follow a cyclical pattern. They expand as the economy comes out of a recession and companies use existing resources in labor and capital to drive business. But eventually capacity constraints kick in, forcing companies to spend more for incremental business. At that stage, margins start to contract again. We may not be at the contraction stage yet, but we do need to buy into fairly optimistic assumptions about productivity improvements for current consensus margin expansion expectations to pan out. The Russell 2000 Scorecard Including this morning s reports, we now have Q1 results from 540 Russell 2000 members that combined account for 31% of the small-cap index s total market capitalization. Total earnings for these Russell members are up +22.3% from the same period last year on +7.7% higher revenues, with 54.3% beating earnings estimates and 39.4% beating revenue estimates. Here is the current scorecard for the 540 Russell 2000 companies that have reported results already 16

17 We are not quite as further along in the reporting cycle for the small-caps as we are for the large caps. But the growth rates and beat ratios for the Russell 2000 companies are broadly in-line with or modestly better than what we have been seeing in other recent periods. This is in contrast to what we have been seeing from the S&P 500 companies, as discussed at length earlier. 17

18 The most notable takeaway from the Russell 2000 comparison chart above is the revenue beat ratio. The chart below focuses solely on the beat ratio by doing a side-byside comparison of beat ratios for the two indexes. Revenue surprises for the Russell 2000 companies are tracking a tad bit below levels in other recent periods, but nowhere near levels that we are seeing for the S&P 500 companies. The most plausible explanation for this divergence seems to be the greater exposure to currency issues for the large-cap companies. After all, the S&P 500 companies earn roughly 40% of their earnings from beyond the U.S. shores. The Russell 2000 companies aren t entirely domestic based either, but the magnitude of their international exposure is a lot smaller. 18

19 Market Cap vs. Total Earnings The charts below show the share of total earnings for 2014 as well as the share of total market capitalization for each of the 16 Zacks sectors. Since the S&P 500 is a marketcap weighted index, each sector s market cap share is also its index weight. Finance has regained its leadership position in the index in terms of earnings contribution, though it still remains significantly below its record 27% share of the index earnings in The sector lost its leadership position to Technology in the wake of the global financial crisis, but got it back in 2013 and remains on track to retain the position this year and next. The Finance sector is an even bigger contributor to the Russell 2000 index, expected to bring in 37% of the small-cap index s total earnings in And unlike the S&P 500 where the Technology sector has the larger market cap, Finance is the biggest market cap contributor to the Russell 2000 index, accounting for roughly 23.8% of the index s total market cap. 19

20 % Share of Mkt Cap Consumer Discrt 5.1% Retail 9.0% Medical 13.8% Consumer Stapls 7.2% Auto/Tires/Trks 1.4% Basic Materials 2.7% Transportation 2.2% Utilities 4.9% Business Svcs 3.4% Industrial Prod 2.1% Construction 0.7% Conglomerates 3.1% Finance 15.9% Computer & Tech 19.0% Oils/Energy 7.9% Aerospace 1.6% 20

21 Share of 2014 Income Consumer Discrt 4.7% Consumer Stapls 6.5% Retail 7.1% Medical 13.7% Auto/Tires/Trks 2.2% Basic Materials 2.8% Transportation 2.9% Business Svcs 2.7% Industrial Prod 2.3% Construction 0.7% Conglomerates 2.9% Utilities 5.8% Computer & Tech 18.4% Finance 21.2% Oils/Energy 4.3% Aerospace 1.7% Want more information about this report or about Zacks Investment Research? Contact Terry Ruffolo at or at Visit the Zacks Media Room at zacks.com/media-room Disclosure: This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment or strategy is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. 21